LightSquared: Interference tests were rigged

The GPS industry rigged the testing of LightSquared’s wireless network in an attempt to stymie the broadband startup, an executive claimed Wednesday.

The testing conducted this fall “was shrouded in secrecy” and “there was no transparency,” Jeff Carlisle, head of regulatory affairs for LightSquared, said in a conference call with reporters. The “testing just doesn’t reflect reality and was probably never intended to.”

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GPS manufacturers cherry-picked devices for testing — many of them niche or obsolete — to meet an overly conservative definition of interference, Carlisle said. The complaint adds to Friday’s charge that a key federal advisory board has had a “systematic disregard for fairness and transparency.”

“We believe the testing was rigged to assure that most receivers would fail,” Carlisle said.

Jim Kirkland, a spokesman for the Coalition to Save our GPS and vice president of Trimble, responded that LightSquared is simply whining after things didn’t go its way.

The testing standard the broadband company is “now complaining about has been accepted … for years, and was even accepted by LightSquared going into this round of tests,” Kirkland said in a statement. “It is only now that LightSquared does not like the results that it has renewed its discredited claims that this standard is too conservative.”

“In any case, when we are talking about things like safety of air travel, ‘conservative’ standards have served the public very well,” he added.

In light of their grave concerns about the integrity of the process, LightSquared is calling on the FCC and the NTIA to review the complaints to ensure that the issue is handled with transparency and fairness. The broadband company has not received an indication from either agency on whether they plan to review the complaints.

NTIA continues to evaluate LightSquared’s proposal, under a variety of scenarios, and won’t speculate further about the matter. The FCC is awaiting NTIA’s recommendation.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 1:47 p.m. on January 18, 2012.